Standard disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and flying monkeys.

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AN: okay, I have yet to see a lynch mob outside my door, so I think I am in the clear! (sees reviews looking incredibly pissed). Oh. Oh, right. The last chapter’s EVIL cliffhanger. That was pretty fowl of me, wasn’t it?

Originally, I was going to have Bunyan die, but aborted that idea at the last minute. I already knew I was going to be roasted alive by everyone that read that last chapter, so I didn’t exactly want to give them another excuse to fry me with. Besides, I didn’t want this story to be too gloomy. AND for the record, Sari did not cure Ryu of the crystal disease. She revived Ryu, yes, but she didn’t cure him. Jin just boosted Sari’s spell, if you were curious to what he was doing. Sari’s spell combined with the regenerative power that Jin used on Ryu to make it… last longer.

And yeah, I let Salla run off with Demus. I thought he should have died too, but ah yeah. There’s no telling where that plotline is leading.

So, all the major players have more or less been introduced. Even if they didn’t join the party during ACT I. Some characters will not be rejoining the party, while others that were only introduced for one chapter, will be. Now, just who is joining and who will not, that’s a surprise.

I am writing and posting this story so soon for one reason alone: I do not wish to die for the evil cliffhanger from last chapter. Okay, so now you get to see the mature side of these guys.

…

Though honestly? I think some of them could have matured a little more, if you know what I mean… (snicker)

Okay, I am going to backpedal here and explain a few things so people don’t get confused. First of all, this does take place ten years later. So, yeah. Also, Salla and Demus have dropped off the face of the earth. At the time, there was no current heir to the throne of Dragnier. Because of this, Gideon named someone else to be his heir. If you guessed Legence, you get a cookie! Yeah, Legence is now the heir to Dragnier. Long story.

Also, Nina stayed true to her word. She had her people spend several YEARS looking for Ryu, but they were unable to find him. He also seemed to drop off the face of the earth. Jin and Bunyan also looked for Ryu, but were unable to find him. Deis told Garr that it was a part of Ryu’s destiny and only time would tell if he showed up or not.

Sari also tried to find Ryu, but she couldn’t either. So, Ryu is MIA. No one knows if he is dead or alive. Meanwhile, Garr returned to Angel Tower and had to help straighten out the mess that Demus made when he killed off those priests. So, no the Urkan Tapa is not going to wage war against the Brood.

Well here are the reviews!

Nina Windia: Hee, thanks! I try to make Yuki funny without being too annoying. Oh, hehe. I know. Yeah, the flying monkeys make for great muses. They can also be very scary (laughs).

Ah, good. I’m glad you liked that. Ah, yeah. That is pretty funny! Destiny? The set will of the universe playing a practical joke, perhaps? Only time will tell… (looks all sagely. Monkeys come and whack me on the head.) Ouch. Scary monkeys…

Rogue_Kaiser: Oh I am so glad you liked it! I thought that was a good scene too. Heh, I was worried about that scene with Sari reversing time. Ah, good. I was also worried a little bit about Legence. Oh, believe you me, you will be glad to see this guy go down.

Hm, nope. ‘Fraid not. Surprisingly enough.

Anime Monkey: (this is for both reviews) Hee, glad you liked that scene. You can thank Nina Windia for the idea! Hm, really? I guess it could be seen that way. Ah, yes… I would, wouldn’t it??? (shifty eyes)

Ah, yeah. That did kinda suck. But I made it right. Sorta. Heh… I think I might have a lynch mob on my case before its all over with. I can say this wouldn’t be much of a story without Ryu, ya know? (hinthint)

Well, without further adieu, ACT II: Adulthood!

(Oh guess, oh guess, who the blue-haired man is!!! (hint: the name he is called by is not his real name!)) (Ugh… I just realized that Siegfreid is such a pervert. All well… have no idea what possessed me to name a character that… maybe it had something to do with a blond haired knight from Soul Caliber III? Hm, nah…)

Ten years later…

Okay, three idiots at the table… now which one is the ringleader? Please don’t tell me it’s the hot chick! Please don’t tell me… ah shit! It IS the hot chick. Or, maybe it’s the ringleader’s hooker…nope. The dude to the right is the ringleader’s man-bitch.

……………

So, I am going to have to fight a girl. Shit. The things I do to get paid.

He figured the gig would be simple enough. The bounty called for the head of a thieves guild to be taken into custody and turned over to another guild. He personally did not like dealing with the guilds, but they were willing to pay a lot of money for the bounties.

And… seeing that he was kind of short on zenny right now… AND he was starving his ass off… he kinda needed the money.

He watched from his table as a blond buxom, the one he figured out to be the ringleader, sit down and motioned for the three scruffy men that were with her to do the same. The blue and green of their uniforms indicated that they were members of the Taobashi Thieves guild.

Ah yes. The last time he had a run-in with that particular guild, the second in command tried to kill him. Fun times, fun times.

He turned his attention to the young waitress that came over to his table to deliver his drink order. She was apparently one-quarter woren. He knew this because of the cat-like ears poking out of her long blond hair.

The waitress smiled as she placed his mug on the table and asked him if he needed anything else. He shook his head and told her no. He thanked her and she left.

Damn, she had a nice rack on her. I wonder if she’s single… nah. Focus, you are here on a mission, not to be checking out the racks on the local female population!

His thoughts turned to another blond for a second. A young girl he hadn’t seen in a long time. He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. The past was the past. There was no point in dwelling in it.

He turned his attention back to the thieves. Two Builder clan males and a highlander male. He figured that the Builders were the muscle and the highlander was there for speed and to be able to quickly kill anyone who would dare try to harm his boss.

Well, this was going to be fun then. He took a drink from his mug before standing up. He reached beside of him and picked up his long sword and latched it onto his belt. He grinned slightly as he made his way over to the table.

The young woman looked up when she noticed a shadow standing over her. The man was tall, had a slight muscle build, and a very nice light tan. She eyed him and noticed that he was wearing casual traveling gear: a loose red and white crisscrossed long-sleeved shirt, shoulder guards, metallic gold gloves that may or may not have had claws on the finger tips, tan colored pants, leader boots that reached to his knees, and a red scarf that seemed to almost cover the lower part of his face.

The two things she noticed the most about the man was the long scar that ran vertical on the left side of his face. It started at the forehead and ran to about the middle of his cheek. Incidentally, he seemed to be blind in his left eye; instead of the intense green that his right eye was colored, the left eye was a very dull pale green.

The second thing she noticed about the young man was the midnight, short spiked blue hair.

A couple of dials turned and flipped a few switches. Her henchmen jumped up, daggers at the ready. They knew who this man was, and they knew if they didn’t act fast, they would be tripping over their heads. The woman stayed seated.

Everyone else in the room didn’t even act like they noticed the commotion.

The man grinned as his right hand fingered the hilt of his long sword. “Well, fancy meeting you four here.”

The three men got into a battle stance. The man laughed slightly and gave them a warning look. Do it and die… the three men relaxed their stances, but not their weapons.

He leaned in close to the woman, the grin on his face growing by the second. “It seems like you enjoy giving people a run for the money, eh? I had to track you all over Wyndia Region before I was able to catch up with you here. And Bount is such a small town, too. Word does travel fast though.”

The woman gritted her teeth, but smiled sweetly nonetheless. “So, what business do you have with us then?”

“Ah,” the man shifted the weight from one foot to the other and placed his hands behind his head. “See, that’s the funny thing. Even though the Navare guild has a bounty on your head, and they want a lot for it too, this is more personal than that. You see, your lackeys tried to kill me a long ass time ago.”

The woman held back a snicker. “You want revenge then?”

The man grinned. “No. Just the money. So, princess, you can either come with me quietly, or we can have some fun and duke it out.”

The woman smiled. “It is rude for someone to ask a lady to come with them on a first date, do you not think so, Mr. Griffith?”

<å>The man shook his head. “I’m not exactly what you would call a by the book mercenary. Understand, Ms. Jaclyn?”

“Oh, indeed I do, Mr. Griffith. But, since you are not a by the book kind of guy, should I call you Siegfreid instead?” Jaclyn asked.

The man grinned slightly. “Ah, then you know who I am. Siegfreid is fine,” Siegfreid smiled as he took a step back.

He grinned wider as he his fingers quickly wrapped themselves around the hilt of his blade. He jumped back as he quickly drew his sword. The highlander jumped forward, daggers at the ready, and lunged at Siegfreid and knocking a few chairs over in the process.

Siegfreid laughed and jumped back and parried the blow with his sword. He twirled around and blocked another blow. This was almost too easy. Sure enough, soon the two Builder clansmen lunged forward and proceeded to lay the smackdown on the smaller man.

Siegfreid, however, did not become a world class mercenary by being a pansy. The man jerked back and ducked just as the Builder on the left swung his meaty fist at Siegfreid’s head. He lunged forward as the Builder on the right swung his fist. The two Builders ended up hitting each other and knocking themselves out.

Siegfreid laughed and kicked around and knocked the highlander with enough force to send him spirally across the room. The highlander landed against the far wall and managed to take a couple of chairs with him.

Jaclyn grimaced as she stood up. She drew a dagger that was hidden between her breasts. Siegfreid merely grinned.

“So, you’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” he said as he readied his sword once more.

Jaclyn said nothing. She assumed a battle stance. Siegfreid frowned.

“I don’t wanna fight a lady, if I can help it. Especially one that has such a nice rack as you do.”

That did it. Jaclyn yelled as she ran forward. She punched her dagger at Siegfreid. The man in question just gave her a bored look. He sidestepped her and grabbed her dagger arm and twisted it behind her back.

“Are you coming quietly now, or do you want me to get rough?” Siegfreid said in a gruff voice. “I do grow tired of these games…”

Jaclyn growled, but relaxed her body, indicating that she would not resist. Siegfreid smiled and was about to say something, but he was cut off by the sound of loud sirens. Someone had apparently called the Rangers.

Jaclyn was the head of the Taobashi Thieves Guild, but he was Siegfreid Griffith. He was wanted in the Wyndia, Rhalpha, and Urkan Regions. There was a death warrant for him in Laurante and all islands associated with Dragnier. Oh, and let’s not forget Worent. They really wanted his ass.

So, a one Siegfreid Griffith did the only thing he could think of, he dropped Jaclyn and bolted out the nearest exit, which just happened to be the bathroom window.

Siegfreid frowned as he watched the Rangers climb out of their patrol cars and rush into the tavern he was just currently in. He noticed that the leader of this little squad was a young woren male with long blond hair that was spiked in the front and held back by a white bandana. He was dressed in a black tang-top that showed his muscles off nicely, khaki colored baggy pants, and black boots. A badge hung around his neck.

Another one of the officers was a young woman with tanned skin and bright blond hair. She was dressed in a pink tang-top, blue jeans, and black boots. Her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

Another one was a male Grassrunner that seemed to favor a bipedal St. Bernard. He had white fur with a brown pouch of fur over his left eye. He was dressed in a green, long sleeved tunic and white pants.

The last of the officers was the one that really caught his eye. A young woman with shoulder length, dark brown hair that was feathered around her face and held back with hair clips. She was dressed in a purple and white jacket, a black halter-top, a black choker, tanned colored shorts, black socks that went to her knees, and purple ankle boots.

The last one was sort of attractive, but there was a look of intense determination in her green eyes…

“What…?” Siegfreid muttered to himself. He looked down and pulled out a small necklace from his pants pocket. The charm was in the shape of a silver dragon coiled around a clear stone that was in the shape of a teardrop. The clear stone flashed rainbow colored.

Siegfreid quickly put the necklace back in his pocket. He strapped his sword to his back and proceeded in the opposite direction of the tavern.

The last thing he needed was for that brown-haired Ranger to spot him…

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All in all, it really did seem like a good idea at the time. But everyone knows that the saying never ends well. Especially if one knows that what they are doing in regards to that saying will most likely attract unwanted attention.

Hence, why the person in question was walking around the ruined city.

A red-headed boy, who looked about twelve years old, walked around the deserted ruined city of Lahan. He was dressed in a black shirt that was over a longer white shirt. He wore blue and red jeans and leather boots that were covered by the jeans. Attached to his belt were a twin pair of Makarov guns. He also wore a black trench coat with a red and white collar that had silver lines running down the arms of the sleeves. There was a design on the back of the trench coat, a trinity knot that was encircled by a moon crescent and wings.

The symbol was not only the Godwin family’s personal insignia, but it also served as the symbol for the Godwin Foundation as well.

The boy sighed and glanced around at the ruins. Terrible memories welled up in his mind. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He opened his eyes and turned around when he heard the sounds of something beeping from his belt. He grinned slightly when he noticed it was his communicator.

He turned it on. A holographic image of a young woman with long purple hair appeared. She was dressed in a short black dress that was under a long lavender sleeveless dress that buttoned up the front. She wore black leggings and boots as well.

“Shelley,” Little Master grinned slightly. He placed on arm on his hip and held the comm with the other. “So, what’s up?”

Shelley stared at him with an impassive look on her face. “Team two has reported that there is a massive energy heading your way. They spotted it on the radar as they were excavating the site.”

Little Master nodded his head in understanding. “Okay. We’ll keep an eye out. Have they found anything relating to Project FATE?”

Shelley shook her head. “Nothing, I am afraid. I think that…”

“LITTLE MASTER!”

Little Master turned his head, looking for the source of the high pitched shrill. A young woman with blond hair that ended in curls ran over to the two. She was dressed in a short sleeved blue shirt that had white lines running along the back and sides of the shirt and sleeves, white shorts, black leggings and thigh-high white boots.

The woman grinned as she looked at Little Master.

“What’s up Seth?” Little Master asked.

“Seth, please do not startled us like that,” Shelley said from the comm. Seth glanced over Little Master’s shoulder and pouted.

“We found something!” Seth said in an excited voice. “An old notebook!”

“That’s great!” Little Master said. He looked over at Seth and noticed that she looked slightly nervous. “Seth?”

“Um. The notebook is back at the excavation sight,” Seth said.

“Little Master,” Shelley said. ”We have just lost communication with team two. The energy build up has increased. I do believe that you should proceed with caution when investigating the site.”

Little Master nodded. “Understood. We will proceed with caution. I think we should keep an open comm link just in case.”

Shelley nodded and the holoscreen vanished. Little Master placed the comm back on his belt and turned to Seth. Seth nodded and walked after Little Master. The two walked in silence while they headed off to the ruined site of the research center.

Though Seth had never been there, her little master had. Of course that was long before she and her sister Shelley had come the personal assistants of Master Godwin. Of course, Little Master never talked about his time in Lahan. She also never understood his obsession with Project FATE or the Link Experiments.

Little Master paused when they came upon the site a short while later. He frozen in his tracks when he saw his entire team lying on the ground, blood pouring everywhere. He ran over to the nearest subordinate and knelt down next to him.

“What… what happened here?!” Little Master yelled.

The young man, who dressed in a red and black uniform, weakly looked up at Little Master. He held in his hand an old, leather bound notebook. He extended the notebook towards Little Master.

“Here… take this notebook,” the man said as he held it out towards Little Master.

Seth looked like she wanted to scream. She ran over to the others and checked for signs of life. She found none and told her little master as much. He had to keep from screaming. A groan from the man turned his attention back to him. Little Master finally took the notebook from the dying man. He weakly nodded and then died.

Little Master looked grim. Seth walked over to Little Master and knelt down beside him. He said nothing and started to flip through the notebook. Sure enough, it was what he thought it was. The notebook was the personal research notes of a one Aaron the Wise… and most of the notes were talking about Cymoison.

Little Master found the section that talked about a cure. He had been searching for that information for almost fourteen years. He scanned the page and frowned slightly. The words written on the page went way over his head.

Little Master was by no means a stupid person, but he was no medical doctor. He would need someone who actually knew about the virus and had studied it in detail to be able to make out what the words were saying.

He did make out something on a theory, though. It had something to do with hybridized blood of a dragon and a being of chaos. He wasn’t sure what that meant, though.

“Is that it?” Seth asked in a shaky voice.

Little Master nodded. He placed the notebook in his trench coat and stood up. Seth followed suit. He looked around at the dead bodies of his subordinates and suppressed a snarl.

“WHO DID THIS?! SHOW YOURSELF, YOU TWO FACE PIECE OF SHIT!” Little Master screamed. A red aura surrounded his form as his eyes flashed gold. Seth took a step back. Little Master’s hands hovered over his guns.

The person in question was a young man with short light brown hair, dressed in a white shirt, blue vest, brown pants, and leather boots. He smiled slightly as he held a high-powered rifle right at Little Master’s face.

“Wyatt Godwin, I presume?” the man asked with a slight accent that was native to Dragnier.

Little Master, Wyatt Godwin, nodded slowly. The man smiled. “Oh, good. I was worried that my men had killed you. I am Sir Zaccheus Transell, Captain of the Royal Dragoons of the Kingdom of Dragnier. I fear that you have something of great importance. I will have to ask you to hand it over, or else…”

Wyatt frowned, then smirked. “Ah, sorry ‘bout that Zacky. I have no idea what you are talking about!” Wyatt shrugged as if trying to emphasize his point.

Zaccheus was not amused. “If you do not hand it over, I will be forced to use extreme measures…”

Wyatt’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Oh, like how you killed of my subordinates? Ha! Don’t make me laugh!” Wyatt drew his guns and fire off a round of bullets.

Zaccheus smirked and quickly dodged the bullets. Wyatt growled and fired again, but Zaccheus dodged them again. Wyatt growled in frustration and fired one more time, but Zaccheus dodged once more.

“Who’s orders are you on?!” Wyatt shouted in frustration.

“Ah, Prince Legence’s, of course. He wished for me to retrieve that notebook that your team was searching for. Now, if you would be so kind to hand it over, we can all put this mess behind use.”

Wyatt growled and the aura erupted. Seth jumped back and got into a defensive stance. She knew exactly what was coming next.

Wyatt drew both guns and stood with them akimbo. The red light spiraled around the guns. Wyatt yelled in rage as he crossed both guns in from of him and let loose another volley of bullets. Zaccheus yelled and barely missed getting hit by the firebullets.

Zaccheus landed a few feet away and tried to catch his breath. Wyatt stood, arms akimbo, and grinned.

“So, what are you going to do now, you over-glorified gopher?” Wyatt laughed.

Zaccheus growled. This was futile. He would have to get the book at some other time. He grinned slightly and gave Wyatt and Seth a slight bow. “I do believe we will have to cut this short! Until we meet again!” And with that, Zaccheus vanished in a plume of dark red light.

Wyatt growled and placed his guns back into their holsters. He then turned back to Seth, who just stood there grinning at him.

“And to think that you didn’t loose your temper this time,” Seth said. She then turned around and looked at the bodies of their fallen comrades. “What are we going to do about… this?”

Wyatt sighed and looked his comm. He turned it on and contacted Shelley. “Shelley? We are going to need backup here. Oh, and can you contact Lady Saria la Crosse? Yeah, it's an emergency. I do believe that Dragnier might want to wage war with us…”

 

To be continued…